Our first episode was nerd-centric what with my attending Gencon and both Andrea and I going to several nerdcore/nerdrock shows over the summer. But we’re all nerds and geeks on the podcast – every episode is likely to drift thataway at some point or other. LOL

Gencon is weeks away and I'm not entirely prepared. In honor of that, I'm going to talk a little about Ubercon which doesn't happen until early November.

I seem to have been talked into running a session of A Penny For My Thoughts. It's a fun little role-playing game where you are trying to regain your memories. It's played as though you are in group therapy with the other people in your session helping you remember. Here's the thing, my game will be a blend of group therapy and puppet therapy. At the start of the game, players will build simple sock puppets using sock puppet "blanks" and a box of face pieces. This could be very, very awesome or quickly dissolve into absurdity.

I've mentioned before that I'm listed on a free personals website. I don't take the thing too seriously. This summer I've been far too busy to log in, let alone look through profiles and such.

Despite my indifference, the automated match system keeps pairing me up with people. Of those matches, at least one person will send me a note each week. I'ma sucker for mail so I read all of them. Responding these messages though, that's another thing.

Single and two sentence messages annoy me. How is "I thought you looked cool. Let me know if you want to talk sometime." supposed to inspire any sort of interest on my part? Did you read my profile? Did you see how freakin' wordy I can be? Talk nerdy to me, comment on particulars in my profile, write more than two sentences: do just one of these things and the likelihood of my responding will increase. No really, it will.

I'm tempted to add the above statement to my profile, but I doubt it will change the messages I receive.

I've attended/seen: a picnic at the orchestra with The Knitters, a visit to my mom's out in northeastern PA, 4th of July in Catasauqua PA with the Millers, a very brief visit to Dexcon for Kat's birthday, a long weekend in Orlando for Nerdapalooza, more picnicing with The Knitters only this time in the gardens at Gibraltar in Delaware, rocking out with Lima Research Society & a girly sleepover.

But wait, there's more!

July isn't over, there's still a birthday party, a day trip to Coney Island, and a show in Brooklyn on the agenda. August is shaping up to be just as fun filled.

I'm knitting a pair of socks. The pattern, Bellatrix (you'll need a Ravelry login to access the link), was inspired and designed in honor of Bellatrix Lestrange, a perfectly evil character from the Harry Potter novels. The plan is to have the socks finished and on my legs by the time I'm at the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie next week. Not only will I be wearing the socks, but I'll be in costume as Bellatrix.

Here's the thing - I'm not really a fan of the HP books.

I read the first one a couple years after it came out. My first reaction was, "That has potential." I was later told the series got better, so I read the next couple books. Yeah, they got a little better, but I still was left wondering why there was such a rabid fan base. I didn't think the ideas were fresh, nor did I think the books were wonderfully written. Still, people were shouting the praises of the series. (It's that same bit of wonderment I have over the fans of Jordan's Wheel of Time series.) The completist in me finished the series and I was left with a feeling of "Eh, it was a bit of fluff that entertained me for a bit."

So why am I succumbing to Harry Potter madness complete with costuming and midnight releases?

I'ma fan of what the books have inspired in people.

Every time a book came out, I'd watch the news as adults and kids alike would wait in lengthy lines at bookstores to get the book as soon as physically possible. It's cool to see that excitement in people.

I've always been a fan of costuming. So the sudden explosion of people putting together their school robes, hand-crafting magic wands, and knitting house scarves, completely tickled me.

Wizard Rock boggles my mind. Last year I did the nerdiest thing I may ever do in my lifetime; I attended a Wizard Rock festival in Brooklyn. Even after witnessing a full day of close to 20 bands singing HP themed songs, I'm still amazed by the music scene. Not every band was great, but many were good, and all shared a passion that was hard to resist.

What started as a cold that was aggravated by my seasonal allergies, has developed into seasonal allergy hell. I've been an unhappy stuffy headed, sore throated, hoarse sounding woman with a hacking cough for the past week. I sound like I've been chainsmoking for 30 years. If I can find one, I'm buying a neti pot today. Yes, I'm turning to sluicing saline solution through my nasal passages. I know a few people who love using their neti pots and I'm miserable enough right now to give it a go.

Sleeping has been very rough as I wake up every couple hours to cough. I very much want to take a nap right this second.

I felt crappy enough all weekend spend the bulk of it at home. With all that time to myself, I caught up on a lot of things; I watched a Netflix DVD I've had at home for weeks plus two other DVDs I had waiting to watch, finished reading a novel and started a second, finished knitting a pair of socks, did most of my laundry & read the comics I picked up the other week. I also participated in my family's Mother's Day dinner in honor of my step-mom and her mom.

I did however miss out on some awesome goings on out in the wide world. Robin, I'm very sorry to have missed your show this weekend, and John that party sounded very cool. Please forgive me for staying close to home.

I'm determined to take a trip this coming weekend. I'll be making a visit to some of my very favorite people on Long Island. I hope I can figure out a way to relieve my allergy symptoms before the trip. LOL